The paper investigates the influences of globalisation on Russian higher education in accounting. Drawing on interviews with academic staff and secondary data sources, the paper discusses the tensions between local and global influences in higher education. The paper argues that globalisation has an ideological impact on accounting educators in Russia and shapes the accounting education discourse. Global discourse is seen as exclusionary, value-laden, capitalistic, imperialistic and marketing-focused. These changes result in the marketisation of Russian universities and may eventually lead to decreased educational quality and value of the academic profession.